Various different coverings exist for architectural openings such as doors, windows and the like. The coverings, for instance, can provide privacy, can provide thermal insulation, and/or can be aesthetically pleasing. One type of covering is referred to as a shade. Although shades can take many different forms, shades typically include a fabric that is designed to be suspended adjacent to the top of an architectural opening by hardware that may be capable of raising and lowering the fabric.
The fabric can be configured to be raised and lowered in numerous ways. For instance, roller shades typically include a shade material that winds and unwinds on a rotating mandrel for retracting and extending the shade. Other shades include Roman shades that hang flat when lowered and pleated shades that include horizontal fold lines that allow the shade to collapse into a uniform stack when retracted. Another type of shade is typically referred to as a cellular shade. Cellular shades are made from a series of connected foldable cells.
One of the advantages to installing a shade within an architectural opening is the ability to select a shade material or fabric that lets a desired amount of light to pass through the shade. For instance, in one embodiment, a shade material may be selected that completely blocks light from entering through the architectural opening. In an alternative embodiment, a shade material may be selected that allows a small amount of light to pass through the material for allowing some light to enter through the architectural opening while also providing visual appeal. In still another embodiment, a shade material may be selected that allows a substantial amount of light to pass through the architectural opening. Such materials are typically referred to as “sheer” materials. Sheer materials, for instance, can be made with a relatively open weave and can be constructed from woven or knit monofilament yarns.
Although sheer materials are highly desirable in some applications, the use of sheer materials has created various problems for shade manufacturers. For example, many types of shades are made from multiple pieces of material. The multiple pieces of material are typically connected together to form the shade through the use of an adhesive, such as a liquid adhesive. Beads of adhesive, for instance, are typically used not only to construct individual cells in a cellular shape, but also typically used to interconnect the cells together. Unfortunately, however, such adhesives have a tendency to penetrate through highly porous materials, such as sheer materials. Not only can the adhesive be unsightly with respect to such materials, but adhesive migration can also cause unintended parts of the shade material to bond together creating an unusable product.
In view of the above problems, those skilled in the art have proposed various different methods and techniques for bonding together sheer materials when constructing shade products. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,600 discloses cellular shades made from sheer materials wherein the sheer materials are bonded by allowing the adhesive to cure while the cells are in an expanded state.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,039 also discloses a method for forming cellular shades using a sheer material. In the '039 patent, strips of a non-bonding material are placed at selected locations within a cellular shade during application of an adhesive in order to prevent the adhesive from bonding unintended parts of the shade together. When the adhesive has set, the non-bonding strips are then removed from the product.
The present disclosure is directed to further improvements in shade products containing sheer materials. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to further improvements in controlling adhesive migration through porous materials, such as sheer materials during the production of shade products.